


To Fade Away

by jane_fucking_seymour



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Angst, Everyone move out of the way I still have an angst war to win
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 09:46:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18914467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_fucking_seymour/pseuds/jane_fucking_seymour
Summary: "And without him... we all disappear." - Catherine Parr, "I Don't Need Your Love"





	To Fade Away

“They’re… cancelling the show?”

Howard is latched onto Jane as Parr asks the question to the producer.

“Yes,” the producer says. “We… there wasn’t enough interest. I’m sorry, guys, but we’ll be closing tonight.”

“Tonight?!?” Aragon says. “But, we just did the show, so does that mean…”

The producer nods gravely.

“Tonight was your last show.”

The girls are silent. 

Even after the producer leaves, even after Howard’s cried her eyes out, everyone is silent.

It takes a long time for anyone to speak, and when Boleyn does, it’s barely a whisper.

“What do we do now?”

There’s no answer for a moment, but then Parr sighs.

“We… write. Or appeal to the public. Something. Things come back all the time, maybe this can be one of them.”

Cleves nods. 

“If we’re together, we can figure it out-”

“Uh, guys?”

They all turn to Aragon. She’s looking at her hands… which are starting to fade.

“Catherine?” Parr asks, walking over to her. She tries to steady her, but Aragon is panicking. She rushes to Boleyn, out of everyone.

Boleyn holds onto her like a lifeline. It might be her finally chance.

“Anne, I…” She tears up, keeping Anne close. “I know we should have talked more. I know we’re not… the closest…” she stumbles, so Anne helps bring her to the floor.

“But… I love you, Anne. I really do.”

She looks over at the others. “Please. Don’t let me go in vain. It’s up to you now.”

And with that, Catherine of Aragon disappears from view.

The look of horror that was across every other Queen was apparent.

Parr’s the first to recover.

“We gotta… she just…”

She shakes her head, steadying herself.

“This is what happens,” Howard says, numb. “This is what happens… when we can’t tell our story. We disappear. Remember?”

The rest look over at Boleyn, who just stares at her hands. They’re exactly where they were when they were holding Aragon for the last time.

A few hours later, the news breaks that the show had been closed. There’s… silence, on social media. People don’t care or are happy about it.

Boleyn’s phone drops as she’s replying to rather nasty messages online, people happy with the show’s demise.

Anne’s phone falls from her hands. With a small curse, she goes to pick it up… but realizes that she can’t pick it up.

“Parr!” Boleyn yells. “Parr, it’s happening, Parr!”

When Catherine gets over to her, though, Boleyn is already gone.

A few hours later, Jane had gone into her room to get dressed. They were headed to a small group meeting with a few people who supported the show. Howard noticed it was taking Jane a long time to get ready, so she went to check on her.

The scream that came from Howard’s lips was something that Parr will never forget.

Cleves had been in the car when she started to disappear. Howard had been holding onto her, asking her not to go, begging even. 

By the time they got to the theater, it was just Howard and Parr.

Howard is shaken up, clearly - her family had disappeared before her eyes, and she was helpless to stop it. When they were waiting in the wings of the theater to go out, Howard had faked a smile and told Parr she’d better go on ahead.

“And Parr? Whatever happens… I love you.”

Parr gave her a nod. “We’re going to be okay. We’ll get everyone back, Howard, you’ll see.”

“I believe in you,” Howard says, a strong smile on her face.

Parr turned to head out onto the stage. She went to introduce Howard… but the only thing left of her was her K collar on the floor.

Everyone else was gone.

Aragon.

Boleyn.

Seymour.

Cleves.

Howard.

Parr, once again, was the One Who Survived.

She couldn’t bear it; her friends, her family… all faded away. Their stories, their lives, it went with them.

Parr doesn’t know when she’ll disappear, too - there wasn’t a real pattern of the timing of it, only the order made any sense - so Parr uses all of her time.

She writes to the public, never sleeping. She tells their story.

There’s a push on social media to get the show back. She starts a Kickstarter.

She goes to every single Henry exhibit she can find and protests against the mistreatment of her friends, her family. She tells their stories as well as she tells her own.

She hopes it’s enough.

She hopes it’s good enough to keep their memory alive.

She’s not sure why she’s not gone with them, yet.

She assumes they’re all together; they all disappeared the same way, so it’s only an assumption. But she uses the time, she uses everything she can possibly use to make sure their stories get told.

They failed in their first life. She won’t let them make the same mistake again.

She’s once again on stage at the theater - the one where she and her sisters performed countless times - when her hands start to tremble. She’s mid-speech about Jane Seymour when she feels it start to happen.

She knows what’s coming.

She calmly finishes it up, makes sure she hits her points about Cleves and Howard, then moves to herself.

“I… I’m the One Who Survived,” Parr says. “Twice, now. Though I think… my time will be at an end very soon.”

She holds up her hand and, indeed, it’s starting to disappear, to the alarm of the crowd.

“I’ll be with them, I think, wherever they are.” Parr says. She looks out at the faces - young women, old women, mostly women. Some have realized they’re about to watch Catherine Parr disappear, others aren’t sure what to think.

She’s not finished yet.

“It’s up to you guys now. It’s up to you to tell the world our story. Of Catherine of Aragon, the most faithful person you could find. Anne Boleyn, her brilliant and clever antics. Jane Seymour and her unconditional love. Anna of Cleves and her strength. Katherine Howard and her bravery. And of me… and, I guess, my persistence.”

It’s up to her arm now. Like how she did it before. It’s got a whole different meaning right now.

“I used to think I had to suffer in silence. I learned - far too late, but I learned - that I can’t be silent. It cost me my family not once, but twice. And you guys should learn from my mistake.”

Her legs can’t hold her anymore. She falls to the floor.

“Please,” She says, a translucent reaching to the audience. “Remember us for what we were. We aren’t just… six words. We were six people. We mattered. We did what we could and our stories weren’t over yet. We are so much more than that damned rhyme. We were-“

But that’s all she can say as she fades away.

She’s floating in darkness, body slowly drifting downwards. She didn’t think it’d be this dark, but she had known that it would be this peaceful.

A small voice calls for her; she knows that voice. She’s missed it terribly.

“Kath?” She asks quietly. The young girl smiles. The others appear as well, all go to embrace her.

“Catherine,” Aragon says. “I need you to wake up.”

“What?” Parr asks, but then Aragon disappears. They all do, one by one in rapid succession.

Parr is terrified.

“Guys? GUYS!” She tells, reaching out for Howard’s hand. Kat goes to grab it, but she fades away before they can touch.

“No, don’t leave me, guys, please!” Parr yells. She’s thrashing about, trying to stop falling in this darkness. This is wrong, everything about this is wrong.

_ “Parr…” _

It hurts, it hurts so much, to not have her family there. She fought for them, so much, and she can’t even be with them in the end.

_ “Cath, wake up…” _

Is this her fate? To be so close, yet so far-“

**_“CATHERINE!”_ **

The girl suddenly sees a light, as bright as a star. It blinds her for a moment before she reaches out, going straight towards it…

… and ending up in the park, head in Aragon’s lap.

“Are you alright, darling?” Aragon asks. “You were… thrashing about. Like a nightmare.”

“What…?” Parr asks. She goes to sit up, but another gentle hand stops her. A flash of blonde hair confirms her suspicions.

“You gave us quite the scare,” Jane says. “We couldn’t wake you up at first.”

Parr looks around. “What… what’s happened? You’re all alive?”

“Uh… yes?” Boleyn asks, sitting down next to where Parr was laying. She hands Aragon a water. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

Cleves moves over to wipe a tear from Parr’s face. “Must have been quite the nightmare,” Cleves observes. “You’re crying-“

“Howard. Where’s Katherine Howard?” Parr asks.

Jane looks at the others and it makes Parr’s heart sink.

She doesn’t even let them answer.

“Did she come back, too? Did she… if you all came back, she had to have as well, right?” She looks over at Jane. “She was so relieved because you would be there, that you all would be there. She can’t be alone, Jane, she just can’t -“

“Cath?”

Catherine turns to find Howard standing there. She’s got an ice cream cone in her hand, but she looks very concerned.

“She’s fine, Parr,” Jane says quietly. “I think… I think you had a bad dream.” Jane gently puts a hand on Cath’s shoulder. “Look around. We’re all right here with you, safe as can be.”

Parr, with some help from Aragon, sits up. She sees them all - sees their worried faces… and she cries. Fully, without restraint.

It’s not a sad cry. It’s one of relief.

“Oh, love,” Aragon says, bringing Catherine in gently. Her god daughter was crying and, while they hadn’t reconnected as well as Aragon would have liked, she was still going to be there for her.

The others give her space.

Parr recovers relatively quickly.

“That was… a weird dream,” Parr mumbles. “You all disappeared. The show got cancelled and, one by one, we all disappeared. I did, too, but I was with you guys… and then Aragon kept saying I needed to wake up.”

“Yeah, I was saying it here,” Aragon replies. “You fell asleep in my lap. We’re at the park, if you don’t remember.”

She hadn’t remembered. She looks around with a soft sigh.

“You with us now, Cathy?” Jane asks softly.

Catherine sighs, wiping her tears. “Yeah, yeah. I’m here. Sorry, just… strange dream.”

Katherine Howard stays quiet during this, but then sits next to Parr and offers her some ice cream.

“This’ll make you feel better,” Katherine says. She’s sure of that and Parr chuckles.

“Thank you,” She says, leaning over to kiss the top of Kat’s head.

The rest of the trip goes without incident. When they get home, only Aragon and Jane go to Parr.

“That must have been scary,” Aragon notes. “Seeing us all…”

“We just wanted to check up on you,” Parr says. “Just to make sure.”

Parr looks them both over quietly before she nods.

“Im fine now. I’m sorry for scaring you-“

“Nonsense,” Aragon says. “If you need us, we’re there.” She hesitates for a moment but she puts a hand on Parr’s shoulder. “You’re not alone and you don’t have to be quiet about stuff that’s bothering you, okay?”

Parr smiles and nods. “Okay. Thank you, Aragon.”

Jane moves away; it’s a moment that she doesn’t think she should share and she realizes that everything is ok now.

Aragon and Parr embrace - both hugging tightly - before they break. With a small kiss to Parr’s forehead, the two go back to their normal routine. 

 


End file.
